India’s ace racer Armaan
Ebrahim and Sri Lankan team-mate Dilantha Malagamuwa bagged a third place
podium spot before a blown engine forced retirement in the next race of the
Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo Asia series double header in Suzuka in Japan over the
weekend.
The second stop of the 2016
Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo Asia series kicked off on June11, 2016 at
Japan’s famed Suzuka Circuit, a first for the series and one of two stops in
the championship to be held in Japan this year.
The Lamborghini Blancpain
Super Trofeo Asia series has held a race in Japan every year since its
conception, but the 2016 season marks the first time the competition has
visited Suzuka.
Earlier in the day, the
qualifying session for race one went well for the Japanese drivers, with three
of the top four grid positions held by local teams. AM driver Toshiyuki Ochiai
of Japan and PRO teammate Afiq Yazid of Malaysia put in the fastest time,
followed by another PRO-AM duo, Dilantha Malagamuwa of Sri Lanka and Armaan
Ebrahim of India in second. Local driver Yudai Uchida, and his New Zealand
teammate Jono Lester came in third, chased by Japanese AM driver Takeshi
Kimura.
On Sunday as the checkered
flag fell, Ochiai and Yazid were in pole, followed by Uchida and Lester in
second, with Low and Wiser in third. Zen Low is from Malaysia and his teammate
Max Wiser is an Italian,
Armaan, supported by JK Tyre
and driving for Dilango Racing team, qualified second for the first race on
Saturday and looked set to maintain position. However, the team lost one spot
after the mandatory pit-stop when Armaan handed over the car to Malagamuwa to
complete the remainder of the race.
The final win went to Uchida
and Lester, with Yazid and Ochiai in second, followed by Malagamuwa and Ebrahim
in third.
On Sunday, in the second race
for which the team had qualified ninth, Malagamuwa started and made four places
to move into fifth when the engine blew leading to retirement, 20 minutes into
the race.
Armaan, who is among five
Asians included in the Young Drivers Program of Lamborghini Squadra Corse, and
Malagamuwa had finished second in both races of the first round in Shanghai,
China, last month. Commenting on the weekend, Chennai-based Armaan, said:
“Obviously, we are very disappointed with what happened in the second race, but
at least we managed to pick up some points from our podium finish in the first.
On Saturday, I qualified second for the first race and Dilantha ninth for the
second race. I was running second in the first race at the change-over and we
finished third eventually.
"In the second race,
Dilantha did well to move to fifth after starting ninth on the grid, but the
engine blew and that was the end of it for us here. We now head to Buriram,
Thailand, for the next round in July (23-24) and hopefully, have a better run
there.”
With the weekends racing drawn
to a close, drivers and teams now look forward to another first for the series.
Next month for the first time ever, the Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo
heads to Thailand to race the Buriram United International Circuit. The track,
the first FIA Grade 1 and FIM Grade A circuit in Thailand represents a fresh
challenge to most of the competitors, so will undoubtedly be a memorable race
outing for all.